Hello, Nation! I was wanting to build a mono-Black control deck for Commander. I had already grabbed some cards for it, and then I read an article over at ChannelFireball.com. This is what Chas Andres said about mono-Black decks in Commander:

I'm not saying that Black cards don't see Commander play, because they do. But Black is most often a secondary or tertiary color. Black cards are usually jammed into decks like Sharuum and Vorosh to provide tutoring and creature kill.

In fact, ever since the banning of Braids, Cabal Minion as a general, I don't think I've seen a single mono-Black Commander deck!

Since I was already planning on building an MBC deck, I viewed this as a sort of challenge. It's time to finish the deck I was planning. Want to see my deck? Let's go!

The Commander

Did you know that there are almost a hundred mono-Black Legends? There are a lot of really good ones for MBC. Which one will I choose? Who was I looking at? Let's talk about the contenders.

Anowon, the Ruin Sage – Having an Abyss on a stick that you can play and replay is definitely a strong contender. You can easily build around it with a few vampires and a lot of cards that can dodge the removal. It's a solid body as well, and easily able to contribute to the red zone. This is a serious choice.

Ascendant Evincar – It kills things, it makes your team bigger, and it can be played surgically, whenever you need the effect. The problem is that it pumps enemy creatures, too, and that's not good. It's also not the strongest control ability. +1/+1 to your dudes is hardly the sort of thing your MBC deck needs. Similarly, -1/-1 isn't the strongest removal ability ever. It's definitely a good card, but probably not the ideal choice.

Chainer, Dementia Master – There are a few things about Chainer to love. One, he's fairly cheap for what he does, so you can bring him back a few times without too much worry. His ability to recur creatures ad nauseam is a game-changer. The life cost isn't as bad in a format where you start with a metric ton of life. Chainer is a house in a format with big creatures, and he can use his ability the turn he is brought out, giving you an instant army.

Geth, Lord of the Vault – With fear, he can kill in four attacks by doing 20 Commander damage. His 5/5 size gives him a strong presence on the battlefield. His ability to simultaneously recur something and mill that controller is very powerful, and he can keep recurring. He's a bigger Chainer, more expensive, slower to use, but doesn't cost you life to recur. Definitely a great card as your Commander.

Kagemaro, First to Suffer – This guy is a house as a recursive Massacre-ish effect. Bring him in, sac him to wipe the board, and continue. As long as you have a nice grip, there aren't a lot of creatures surviving your board wipe. Then you can bring him back when he's big, and win with him. He's got a ton of potential.

Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet – Even if it costs 3 mana to use, the ability to tap and kill a creature while also making a vampire dude for your team has a lot of value. Quickly, you'll be able to overrun defenses, because this is a two-creature swing. Minus one for them, and plus one for you. Seven mana is a bit much for a Commander. I prefer the ability to bring them in a little sooner. You get a lot for this one, and reliably using its ability game in and game out is money.

Kiku, Night's Flower – Don't dismiss a Commander than can be played quickly and have an immediate impact on the game. Despite requiring 4 mana to use its ability, the ability to off a large number of creatures is really strong. Kiku can't kill everything, since creatures with a higher toughness are immune to her kill. That's what really keeps her down, because if she was ", 1/1, , : Destroy target creature," then she would be my Commander, no question.

Maga, Traitor to Mortals – You will never have to worry about having that game-ending spell in your hand at the end of the game when Maga is your Commander! Assuming at least one mana accelerant, such as Cabal Coffers, and you can drain 10 or 12 life and have a beater than can kill in two hits because it is a Commander. Maga is awesome!

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen – With enough ways to ensure Landfall in your deck regularly (such as fetch lands like a copy of Terramorphic Expanse), you can quickly turn this simple 3/3 into a 21/21—kills in one hit and drains people of a ton of life.

Phage the Untouchable – Despite her ability to one-hit K.O. people, she gets no respect in Commander! I just don't get it. She's a perfect Commander. Play her! (Just checking to see if you are paying attention.)

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon – We all have heard the great things about the undead dragon. It kills in three hits, and you can swing immediately, and you can save it from removal, and . . . Well, it's good. I'm unconvinced that it is good enough.

Visara the Dreadful – I think this is a perfectly acceptable level of power for a Commander. Don't forget it because it's old or not Avatar of Woe. It flies and can swing for damage when needed. It can block flyers and others. It's got an ability to kill at will, with no mana required. It just needs a simple tap (which means you cannot use it immediately, and thus it can get offed by removal before Visara does her thing). Visara is a very good option for my Commander.

My Commander

There are a lot of good choices above! Who would you choose? Well, let me tell you who my choice is.

None of the above! I left out the one I want as my Commander. Who is it? Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief. Let me tell you why she's my choice.

1. She costs just 5 mana, allowing me to play her mid-game and use her early.
2. As a 4/4 flyer, she can kill in five hits, and she immediately contributes to my red zone.
3. She can reliably kill off creatures by draining them of toughness. It costs a bit of mana, but my deck is expected to make some mana.
4. Her drain effect also pumps her power. That means she can kill much more quickly with Commander damage. You could easily kill in two turns mid-game by draining two creatures. In the late game, with an active mana source such as a Cabal Coffers, you can win the game in one hit, simply by draining some poor creature for 16.

That is a powerful slate of consideration for your Commander. While I certainly think other creatures are great choices, Drana is perfect to my mind. No Commander is better. Name me any other Commander in the above list that's money mid-game and late-game. She can kill a creature immediately after coming into play, unlike those that require a turn to use (she just needs mana, of course, but you can kill several smaller creatures in one turn with her).

Drana is perfect for my deck.

"Mono-Black Drana"

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
• 1 Avatar of Woe
• 1 Notorious Assassin
• 1 Nirkana Revenant
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Butcher of Malakir
• 1 Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
• 1 Maga, Traitor to Mortals
• 1 Phyrexian Gargantua
• 1 Guiltfeeder
• 1 Grave Titan
• 1 Nekrataal
• 1 Shriekmaw
• 1 Visara the Dreadful
• 1 Bane of the Living
• 1 Skinrender
• 1 Dark Hatchling
• 1 Dread
• 1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1 Scion of Darkness
• 1 Skeletal Vampire
• 1 Reiver Demon
• 1 Sangromancer
• 1 Twisted Abomination
• 1 Western Paladin
• 1 Eastern Paladin
• 1 Magus of the Coffers
• 1 Mortivore

• Spells (34)
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Beseech the Queen
• 1 Profane Command
• 1 Sorin Markov
• 1 Liliana Vess
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Mutilate
• 1 Decree of Pain
• 1 Grave Pact
• 1 Ambition's Cost
• 1 Ancient Craving
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Extraplanar Lens
• 1 Beacon of Unrest
• 1 Seal of Doom
• 1 Consuming Vapors
• 1 No Mercy
• 1 Expunge
• 1 Night Dealings
• 1 Recurring Nightmare
• 1 Sudden Spoiling
• 1 Oversold Cemetery
• 1 Exsanguinate
• 1 Drain Life
• 1 Consume Spirit
• 1 Black Sun's Zenith
• 1 Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1 Oblivion Stone
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak
• 1 Dauthi Embrace
• 1 Bonehoard
• 1 Dreamstone Hedron
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (37)
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Crypt of Agadeem
• 1 Volrath's Stronghold
• 34 Swamp

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Let's talk about the deck!

I include several cards from the latest expansion. It's time to try them out and see how they do! The tension between having Swamps for Cabal Coffers and Extraplanar Lens, and having good lands for other abilities, is palpable. I choose all Swamps except for Crypt of Agadeem (to make some extra mana later) and the mega-powerful Volrath's Stronghold.

The deck includes a lot of Black creatures that kill things, from Skinrender to Eastern Paladin, from Notorious Assassin to Nekrataal, from Reiver Demon to Bane of the Living. There's a ton of creature kill in this deck, whether we are talking Expunge and Seal of Doom or the many creatures of killingness. (All made-up words are my own!)

Ultimately, Cabal Coffers is a key card for this. I even run Expedition Map as a way to get it. I also run Magus of the Coffers in order to get one. I wouldn't be surprised to see Demonic Tutor or Beseech the Queen used to get the Coffers when needed. (Night Dealings can't get a land; it's just in here as a general recurring tutor of usefulness).

I stand behind my creatures. I think there are some really good ones in here. Take a look at the killers. Mortivore and Bonehoard are great later in the game. One is resilient to removal, and the other will just hop to make any creature a beater after it dies. Both are game-changers with large power and toughness. Grave Titan is also an effective ender of lives, and maker of other creatures to endeth thy life. Maga can easily be a killer as both one-half of a Drain Life and a huge creature afterward. Guiltfeeder may be the sneakiest killer in the deck! It's an awesome card at sneaking through defenses and stealing life.

Of course, many of the creatures that have other jobs in this deck also are big enough to end lives. Reiver Demon may be played because it is great mass removal for others, but it's still a 6/6 beater of killingness (since that appears to be my word of the day). Similarly, cards like Butcher of Malakir and Avatar of Woe are very good at killing people. I've been known to flip Bane of the Living on the fourth turn for just and hit for 4 damage and start killing with it instead of waiting for its quasi-Wrath ability.

Since I have so many creatures that want to swing, Whispersilk Cloak just seems like a natural in this deck. Drana can kill in one or two swings, so let's make sure she can get them in, while also protecting them. A Whispersilk Cloak on a Germ token made by a Bonehoard might look a bit weird, but it means you can do a lot of damage without your Germ-hoard getting bit by Swords to Plowshares or Capsize or something similar. Lightning Greaves can also protect your guys, and get in a hit one turn faster. Playing a Guiltfeeder, immediately equipping it, and swinging through a defense for significant life loss is awesome.

Also helping out the equipment is a little card called Dauthi Embrace. It has several uses. It can give your creatures Shadow for a powerful hit. It can also give your creatures Shadow defensively to block an opposing Shadow creature. Also, it can give another player a Shadow creature so they can swing for some damage to someone else. They won't attack you, since you can just Shadow and block. It can play politics or help you take down the biggest threat at the table. It's a great card! (I don't see it enough in decks.)

We do have the classic Disk and Oblivion Stone to take out things Black can't normally handle. We have to protect this house somehow. Black Sun's Zenith is interesting, and I want to get a chance to see how it plays outside of drafts in Magic: The Electronic.

The number of Drain Life cards is solid. Drain Life, Consume Spirit, Profane Command, Maga, Exsanguinate. I was down to Suffer the Past, Promise of Power, or Consuming Vapors at the final card to make the cut. I went with the Vapors because I wanted more ways to kill things in order to get past creatures with protection or shroud or high defenses, etc. I didn't have any Edict effect in the deck, and this seemed a good card to toss in to get one. You might also want to check out Predatory Nightstalker from Portal 2.

Since my deck has ways to make a lot of mana, I wanted some abilities to use that mana besides Drana. Geth is included because he can use it. I don't shy away from creatures with significant activation costs like Kiku or Notorious Assassin. I have both the Western Paladin and Eastern Paladin, Skeletal Vampire's bat-making ability, and Kalitas. You can also use the Oblivion Stone to add fate counters to things. That's in addition to things like equip costs, using Dauthi Embrace or Night Dealings, and keeping mana available to show you can be an instant threat.

Recursion has always been a useful power of Black, and to construct a mono-Black control deck without any recursion at all would be silly. In addition to Geth and Volrath's Stronghold (both mentioned above), we have a few other interesting cards. Recurring Nightmare gives you the ability to convert a creature into a better one that has been killed earlier. You have Oversold Cemetery for mana-free recursion. I regularly use Profane Command to recur something good. Scion of Darkness will recur opposing stuff you've killed. Beacon of Unrest will get you something nice. Finally, Liliana Vess has an ultimate ability that is enticing.

Speaking of Planeswalkers, Sorin Markov's second ability is basically an ultimate level of power in Commander. You can use it immediately to really zark someone. You can use it immediately as soon as you play it, should it prove useful. Feel free to drop it, knock someone to 10, and then immediately swing with a Guiltfeeder or Dauthi Embraced Mortivore for game against someone who was winning in a dominating fashion.

Whew! That's a lot of Black. I hope you found some interesting cards in my deck. Perhaps there are a few there that tweak ideas for your own decks! Whether it's Commander or something else, there are always a few things I find in these articles to take away for my format and decks. I hope you found something too!

See you next week,

Abe Sargent